Smith reveals why he held back Zampa

Skipper Steve Smith says the presence of two left-handers at the crease and a strong breeze at The Oval was behind his decision to hold back spinner Adam Zampa until the 35th over in Australia's match against Bangladesh on Monday.

Zampa replaced John Hastings for the game in south London on a worn wicket that had been used for South Africa's match against Sri Lanka on Saturday.

Smith had flagged Zampa's inclusion on Sunday, but his frontline spinner watched on for 34 overs as part-time tweaker Travis Head sent down eight overs of off-spin.

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The legspinner delivered when he was finally introduced, picking up a wicket with his second ball and finishing with 2-13 from four overs as Bangladesh were bowled out for just 182.

Smith said the fact that Zampa would have being spinning the ball into left-handers Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan, who shared a 65-run partnership in the middle overs, was part of the reason why he decided to hold him back.

"They had two left-handers in at one stage batting for a while," Smith said after rain frustratingly denied Australia a shot at victory.

"And a lot of the fast bowlers were bowling the other end (Pavilion End), because it was quite a strong breeze.

"The breeze didn't suit Zampa bowling from the other end, and I thought Head bowled quite well as well (1-33 from eight).

"I was waiting for one of the lefties to get out before I brought him on and I think I brought him on pretty quickly (four overs later) when we had a right-hander in there.

"And he bowled particularly well then, as well."

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Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said during the match he was "little bit surprised" at how long Zampa had been held back for, adding the pitch didn't take as much turn as expected.

On a surface where Proteas leggie Imran Tahir took 4-27 two days earlier, Ponting said he expected Zampa to have played a role earlier than he did.

"They make this big decision, change their team from game one to game two, play on a surface they think is going to favour the leg spin of Zampa," Ponting said during commentary.

"But it hasn’t spun much at all so far, has it? And that might be the other thing in the back of skipper Smith’s mind.

"The other thing with Adam Zampa is, he’s not a big turner of his leg-spinner. As we saw with Imran Tahir the other day, guys like that end up being very good bowlers to left handers as well.

"They say Zampa can bowl over the wicket and use a bit of angle, he’s got a good wrong’un, a good top spinner, a good one out of the front of the hand that sort of skids across the left-handed batsman.

"He’s been warming up for about 15 overs, he’s trying to do anything he can to get in the captain’s eye."

Adding to Zampa's delayed introduction was the strong performance of Australia's fast bowlers, who copped a public dressing-down from Smith after a loose display against New Zealand on Friday.

After leaking 16 fours and three sixes in the first 15 overs at Edgbaston, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins conceded just a trio of boundaries in the same period today before Starc ripped through the tail late in the match.

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Having removed Tamim with the first delivery of his eighth over, Starc bowled Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain with the third and fourth balls thanks to two searing yorkers to find himself on a hat-trick.

Which he missed by a matter of centimetres as another yorker somehow crept past the base of Mustafizur Rahman's off-stump, the Aussie quick having to settle for a three-wicket maiden instead.

"I thought all our bowlers were a lot better today," Smith said.

"We hit some good areas early on and challenged the defence of Bangladeshi batsmen.

"Everyone that bowled I thought did a pretty good job today, and it was nice that we were able to turn things around from the way things went in the first game against New Zealand."

Champions Trophy 2017 Guide

Squads: Every Champions Trophy nation

Schedule

1 June – England beat Bangladesh by eight wickets

2 June – New Zealand v Australia, No Result

3 June – Sri Lanka lost to South Africa by 96 runs

4 June – India beat Pakistan by 124 runs

5 June – Australia v Bangladesh, No Result

6 June – England v New Zealand, Cardiff (D)

7 June – Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston (D/N)

8 June – India v Sri Lanka, The Oval (D)

9 June – New Zealand v Bangladesh, Cardiff (D)

10 June – England v Australia, Edgbaston (D)

11 June – India v South Africa, The Oval (D)

12 June – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Cardiff (D)

14 June – First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff (D)

15 June – Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston (D)

18 June – Final, The Oval (D)

19 June – Reserve day (D)